Film

Shes up for an academy award for her portrayal of the mother of a drug addict who is also an addict herself in the film –Requiem for a Dream.— This is her 5th nomination and could be her second win. She won the Academy Award for the 1974 film –Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore.— Burstyns other films include –The Last Picture Show,— –The Exorcist,— and –Same Time, Next Year— (she starred in the Broadway version too and won a Tony).

In the year 2000, a civilian employee of the U.S. military in Seoul, South Korea, ordered a Korean subordinate to dump a large amount of formaldehyde into a sewer pipe leading to the Han River. The incident aroused violent anti-American sentiment in Korea, and led to the birth of a monster — a monster movie, called The Host.

Actress Betty Hutton died last weekend at the age of 86. Hutton was a singer and actress who starred in classic musicals and comedies of the 1940s and 1950s.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. The new movie Amazing Grace is about the British abolitionist movement, focusing on the man who led the fight in Parliament. It's a story that can lead to introspection.

The new movie 300 is adapted from a graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. The movie centers on an ancient battle between the Spartans and the Persians.

Filmmaker Mira Nair has just adapted Jhumpa Lahiri's 2003 novel The Namesake to the big screen. Her previous films include Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding and Mississippi Masala.

The unsolved Zodiac murder cases of the late sixties and seventies became the inspiration for the modern serial-killer movie genre. There's a new thriller about the crimes: Zodiac. Director David Fincher's film stars Jake Gyllenhall, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo.

Film director Marc Lawrence wrote and directed the new film Music and Lyrics, starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.

He also directed the film Two Weeks' Notice and co-wrote and produced the comedy Miss Congeniality. Previously Lawrence was a staff writer on the NBC sitcom Family Ties.

The story of FBI agent-turned-spy Robert Hanssen is told in the new film Breach with Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe and Laura Linney as his pursuers.

The filmmaker has released a new Valentine's Day album called A Date with John Waters. It's a compilation of love songs including Mink Stole's "Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun" and the late Edith Massey (aka the Egg Lady) singing "Big Girls Don't Cry."

A review of the German film The Lives of Others.

Joe Hunter, who died last week at the age of 79, was one of the Funk Brothers, the session musicians who helped create the Motown Sound. He could be heard on such hits as "Money" by Barrett Strong, "Shop Around" by The Miracles and "Heat Wave" by Martha and the Vandellas. This interview originally aired on Nov. 18, 2002.

Singer Frankie Laine gained TV immortality by singing the theme of Rawhide. He first became successful as a jazz singer recording standards like "Black and Blue" and "West End Blues." (RB of 7/29/87)

German writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie, The Lives of Others, has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Donnersmarck writes that his film is "a human drama about the ability of human beings to do the right thing, no matter how far they have gone down the wrong path."

Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, and writer Michael Arndt. Little Miss Sunshine, their bittersweet film about a dysfunctional family, has been nominated for four Academy Awards. This was Faris and Dayton's feature film debut after directing hundreds of music videos, and also the first screenplay of Arndt's to be produced.

Former FBI Agent Eric O'Neill and Director/Screenwriter Billy Ray have collaborated on the new film Breach. It is based on the true story about FBI operative Robert Hanssen who was found guilty of treason and the FBI agent (O'Neill) who was assigned to Hanssen to draw him out of deep cover.

Director Guillermo del Toro's film, Pan's Labyrinth, is up for six Academy Awards this year, in categories including original screenplay and foreign language film. Del Toro, who grew up in Mexico, wrote and directed the film.

Gyllenhaal plays a drug-addicted ex-convict in Sherrybaby, which will be released on DVD this month. Her other films include Secretary, World Trade Center, and Stranger than Fiction.

A review of the movie Venus, starring Peter O'Toole and Vanessa Redgrave. It was written by Hanif Kureishi, the writer of the films My Beautiful Laundrette and London Kills Me.

Clint Eastwood has examined the Battle of Iwo Jima from two sides this year. His acclaimed film Flags of Our Fathers followed the stories of the American soldiers who raised the flag in one of World War II's most enduring images. His new movie, Letters from Iwo Jima, explores the perspective of the Japanese soldiers who fought it. The actor once best-known as a western and action star has directed a number of great films, including Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby.